kǫttr

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *kattuz (“cat”).

Pronunciation

• (12th century Icelandic) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒtːr̩/

Noun

kǫttr m (genitive kattar, plural kettir)

1. cat
   • Magus saga jarls 19, in 1884, G. Cederschiöld, Fornsögur Suðrlanda. Lund, page 34:

     […] enn annat var morautt, sem i kauttum.

     […] but the other [eye] was yellow-brown, as if that of a cat.

Declension

Declension of kǫttr (strong u-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	kǫttr	kǫttrinn	kettir	kettirnir
accusative	kǫtt	kǫttinn	kǫttu	kǫttuna
dative	ketti	kettinum	kǫttum	kǫttunum
genitive	kattar	kattarins	katta	kattanna

Derived terms

• fjalakǫttr (“mousetrap”)
• hreysikǫttr (“ermine”)
• kattarauga (“forget-me-not”)
• kattarrófa (“a cat's tail”)
• kattartunga (“sea plantain”)
• trékǫttr (“mousetrap”)

Descendants

• Faroese: køttur
• Icelandic: köttur
• Norwegian Nynorsk: katt
• Old Swedish: katter
  • Swedish: katt
• Danish: kat
  • Norwegian Bokmål: katt

Further reading

• Richard Cleasby, Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874) “kǫttr”, in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press, page 368
• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “köttr”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 257; also available at the [https://archive.org/stream/concisedictionar001857

1. page/257 Internet Archive]